First Impressions: Cities Skylines 2

mmorpg.com:

It has been eight years since developer Colossal Order wowed us with the release of Cities: Skylines. Now, they are back again with Cities Skylines 2 , which is set to release on October 24th. I’ve been playing with city builders since the first Sim City came out in 1989, so of course, I was happy to jump in and try my hand at growing a city in Skylines 2 . Two things became very evident during my short time with Cities: Skylines 2 . One, I am still horrible at creating cities. And 2, although many new features and upgrades are packed into Cities: Skylines 2 , many hardcore fans of the original Skylines may not be ready to give up all of the DLC and community mods that have arguably made it the best city builder available today.

The first thing many veterans of Cities: Skylines will notice about Skylines 2 is just how bare bones the sequel feels. Several tools and add-ons that have made their way into the original through DLC and community mods aren’t present in the new version. Skylines 2 isn’t just an expansion to the original, so it really shouldn’t be a surprise that eight years of extras didn’t make it into the day one version of Skylines 2 , but the loss of functionality can still be jarring.

For a more casual player like myself, the downgrade isn’t quite so noticeable, especially when you factor in the new quality-of-life upgrades, starting with the tutorial and help mechanics. With a more learn-as-you-go approach rather than a complete tutorial walkthrough, learning the tools needed to control your budding city is very intuitive. Each time you click on a new tool, a pop-up tutorial explains the basic function of the tool and often gives some extra insight into how it will affect your city’s growth. With so